Libyan Defector Moussa Koussa Invited to Royal Wedding

Gaddafi henchman offered pew at Will and Kate's ceremony in return for state secrets

PRINCE WILLIAM and Kate Middleton are to invite Libyan defector Moussa Koussa to their upcoming wedding, it has emerged.

Koussa, still officially the Libyan Foreign Minister, flew to London this week and is thought to have agreed to trade secrets about his boss, Colonel Gaddafi, in exchange for a berth at the prestigious marriage to be held on 29 April at Westminster Abbey.

"Given the security operation already planned for the royal wedding, Moussa Koussa will be as safe in the Abbey as anywhere else," said a government source.

Koussa has spent two days in debriefing sessions with MI6, from where details of the wedding deal have been relayed.

In the normal course of events, the Foreign Minister might have expected an invite to the ceremony anyway, but the 62-year-old apparently feared his country's civil war had put paid to his last chance of rubbing shoulders with British royalty.

Will and Kate were keen to help the government, but are said to fear that more Libyan defections could mean a whole pew given over to former Gaddafi henchmen.

"It is unlikely that confidants of brutal Arab dictators know many of the words to Church of England hymns," said one royal aide.

Moussa's late invite helps explain the mysterious omission of Cheryl Cole from the wedding guest list.

Earlier this week, the X Factor judge blamed her lack of an invite on the Royal Mail - "I think it must have got lost in the post," she told Hello magazine – but it now seems Cole has been bumped in favour of Koussa in order to help the war effort.

"I feel very fortunate I was able to get myself into a different situation, and that I can help somebody else," said the Girls Aloud singer today, 1 April.